Greetings Martin, thank you for replying to this interview. Please take your time and answer at your leisure
You have played with IQ for roughly 20 years. What do you believe is the most significant change in keyboards through those two decades? What types and brands of keyboards do you currently play? Is there anything interesting in keyboard development that you'd like to work on in the near future?
Keyboards have got a lot better in every way imaginable. I'm not even slightly into this obsession that some people have with vintage synths and Mellotrons. When I started off I had an old Vox piano that was impossible to tune and a really bland sounding old Wem organ. I eventually progressed to string synths ( which were great!) and an ARP Odyssey, which was a beast to tune. I never got on with Moog gear which was even worse to tune and always stopped working whenever I went near it, and most of the early polysynths such as the Prophet 5 and even the Yamaha DX7 left me cold, though I did have a Yamaha CS80 which was great even though it only had primitive patch memories. The best thing about modern keyboards is that they stay in tune and they're reliable - some of the old ones sounded absolutely excruciating when the oscillators drifted out of tune. There's also absolutely nothing of any significance that the so called "classic" keyboards could do that you can't do much better with a modern rig. I currently use a Roland A90 EX master keyboard, which is a really nice piano type controller, an old Roland D-50, a Yamaha SY85, a Korg Prophecy and Roland JV1080 and EMU ESI-32 in the rack. My most recent acquisitions are a Kurweil K2500 which I generally only use in the studio, and an Access Virus KB. The Virus is aimed well and truly at the dance music market, but it's great for our type of music too. It does huge, rich analogue sounds without any of the appalling unreliability of the old synths. It's also a dream to program. I aim to spend a fair bit of time getting to know the Kurzweil and the Virus really well this year as they are both incredibly powerful machines.
You have worked on solo material. Please explain what you are doing. How is it different to IQ music? What musical directions would you personally like to pursue/explore in solo and IQ projects in the future?
Basically I do everything in my solo projects that I can't use in IQ. I often write a lot of stuff that has quite a strong english folk music influence, and I have a few melodic pop songs and classical pieces that generally don't find favour with the other members of IQ. My musical taste tends towards the melodic rather than the experimental, so much of my material is perhaps a bit too "mainstream" for IQ. As my first solo album "Classical Music And Popular Songs" sold really well, I am definitely planning another one, and I will be looking to get even more special guests this time and perhaps a few more esoteric instruments. I have been learning to play the Northumbrian bagpipes, so those are sure to appear somewhere! I will start writing properly for the next solo CD soon, and it will maybe appear some time next year.
On many IQ albums, it states `All songs written and arranged by IQ,' is the composition process in the band democratic, or do some members have more compositional/ decisional clout? What IQ song are you most proud of writing? As a musician, how do you go about the composing process?
Although some members write more than others, it's easiest to just credit everything to the band so that everyone gets the same writing credits and royalties. It's saved us from a lot of the squabbles that have broken up so many other bands, and it makes our quality control process much more effective. The writing process is generally democratic, but sometimes it does come down to who can shout the loudest. IQ writing sessions are notoriously bad-tempered, and are not for the faint-hearted. It's fair to say that traditionally Mike and I have written most of the music over the years, though John has also become a major contributor, particularly on "The Seventh House". Peter's main contribution to the band's output is obviously the lyrics, but he does occasionally come up with good musical ideas too, such as "King Of Fools" (from Subterranea) for instance. When I'm writing at home I generally just mess around on the piano and see what comes out. I often have the computer linked up so that I can get any good ideas straight onto the sequencer.
If you were stranded on a desert island (With a CD player and batteries), and you could have any ten albums, what would you choose and why?
"How to build and sail a raft" by R. Crusoe (10 album spoken word boxed set). Otherwise I'd probably prefer the natural sounds of the place.
Let's go back to early IQ history. After `Tales From The Lush Attic,' the band released `The Wake-' a darker album which revolved around the theme of death. Who originated the concept? Do you prefer themed/concept albums to non-conceptual work?
All the conceptual stuff comes from Peter and to a lesser extent, Mike. I don't really have (or want!) any input in that side of things as I'm more involved with the construction and arrangement of the music. I don't necessarily have a preference between the conceptual albums and the less thematic works - I'm much more interested in whether the lyrics sound good with the music than I am in their meaning and interpretation.
What are your hobbies/interests outside music?
Although it's my profession too, I absolutely love running GEP Records, so it almost counts as a hobby!
Apart from that I like going for walks in the country (we've got a small dog so there's no choice there!), and I do a bit of freshwater fishing, usually with my nephew who normally catches much more than I do. I also like pub quizzes and my partner Christine and I are regular participants whenever there's one in our village. I also have a keen interest in railway history, though I'm certainly not a train spotter! Finally, I do play football on a Friday night with the Jadis boys, and if I haven't got a gig, I like to go and see Southampton FC play Premiereship football on a Saturday afternoon.
What is your favorite book? Movie?
I like the Harry Potter books, but I don't generally read fiction. I don't really have a long enough attention span for films, but I did enjoy Babe (the one about the pig) when it was on over Easter.
What musicians were your idols as you were growing up? Does anyone influence you today? What is was your favorite band/performer of all time?
I don't idolise anyone and I never have. Musicians don't really do anything important enough to warrant being idolised. I also try not to be influenced by anything that doesn't come out of my own head, so I don't really have any particular all time favourites, though that doesn't mean there aren't things I like listening to. However as I have been lucky enough to work with a lot of the people whose music I like, I don't really approach the whole thing from a fan's point of view. I once did a gig with John Wetton on bass and Steve Hackett on guitar and that was pretty good but you'd get fazed by it too easily if you were a total fanboy.
Many creative performers shiver at the word `progressive;' and IQ seems to have been `labeled' with the term `neo-progressive.' Do you think the label is justified? What do you think about the term- progressive music in general?
I don't mind the term "progressive" as I think what we do is certainly more progressive in a relative sense than the dreary dance music that dominates the planet and has done for 20 years. I'm sure there are many people in the world that have never heard music that isn't in 4/4 time!
However I absolutely HATE the term "neo-progressive". I know what the dictionary definition of "neo" is, but in the real world it's almost always used in a derogatory sense. Some examples: "Neo-classical" = like classical but not as good, " Neo Nazi" = silly little boys with swastikas and daft hats. I could go on, but you get the idea.
In my book, neo = fake, and IQ is no fake band - we're every bit as good as the 70's prog bands and a whole lot better than most of them in my (not very humble) opinion. In any case, the correct name of the movement with which IQ was associated (i.e. what it was actually known as at the time) was the "New Wave Of Progressive Rock". The neo-progressive term emerged from the USA about 10 - 12 years later, presumably coined by pseudo-intellectuals that weren't actually there when it was all happening. Thankfully, the term "neo-progressive" is very rarely used in the UK.
In the early 90's IQ started their own independent record label-Giant Electric Pea (G.E.P.). Who runs it? What can IQ/music fans find there?
You would find all the IQ catalogue and some other great CD's besides. We have also released CD's by Jadis, John Wetton, Renaissance, Spock's Beard, Threshold and other great bands.There are now well over 30 releases on the label. I think our quality control has been second-to-none, and we only release what we like, so there is no pressure, financial or otherwise for us to be consistently releasing CD's just for the sake of it. We only do about three releases per year and there are no plans to expand on that. I handle all the day-to-day running of GEP personally, and every CD sold passes through my hands at some point as I check every single one before I send it on its way. I find it very important to retain a "Hands-on" approach to running the company as it avoids getting involved with people like accountants and banks that invariably spoil small companies from my experience. I am also proud to say that we have been trading for over 10 years and we have never had to borrow a single penny from anyone to achieve what we have.
`Subterranea,' has been said to be THE IQ masterpiece, the pinnacle of IQ's career? What are your views on the album and the tour?
I agree that Subterranea is the best thing that IQ has recorded (so far!). However the tour, although a great spectacle is something we should probably never repeat. It took a considerable toll, both mental and physical on all the band and crew, and in addition to any damage to our health, we were losing £2,500 every show. The whole thing was only financed by the sales of "Seven Stories Into 98". Luckily we captured a performance for video and DVD, so at least it's there for posterity now.
You (magically), have the opportunity to play with any musicians in the world. Who(m) would it be? Why?
I think I would probably like to work with one of the world's top symphony orchestras. I think that if you write quite orchestral music as I do, the reasons are self-evident.
Unlike bands such as Marillion, Yes, Genesis, etc.- IQ has survived with few personal changes. What do you feel has kept IQ together? Is there any pressure to venture toward greater `pop/commercial' territory?
I think it's because we are all such difficult people, no-one else would want to work with us! Seriously though, IQ has always had something of a "family" atmosphere (albeit that of a family that spends a lot of time arguing), and we have always done our own thing and kept ourselves apart to some extent from the rest of the prog rock scene.
The fact that IQ continues to be as successful as it ever was is also a major plus point in keeping the band together. There is no pressure at all to write more "commercial" music, though I'm glad we did try that when we had the deal with Polygram. Personally I love writing pop songs, and the Polygram era allowed a lot of my more commercial ideas to be used. Even then there was no pressure on us to be commercial and there certainly isn't now. These days, about the most commercial thing you can do in terms of sales if you're a band like IQ is to put out a double concept album with no singles!
Do you think the United States is dead in terms of progressive/creative bands becoming successful?
I wouldn't have the slightest idea. I'm not particularly interested in the prog rock "scene" at all. Most of the demos I get sent are really lousy whether they're from Britain, Europe or the USA. The next time a band with good songs and a professional attitude like Spock's Beard comes through, I am sure we will all know about it very quickly because good bands are as rare as hen's teeth in this type of music. If I never again hear another band that bases it's entire raison d'etre on the first three Marillion albums, it will be way too soon. There are hundreds of those around, more's the pity.
What are IQ doing now? Any plans for another album? Would you like to tour the states?
IQ is currently doing what it does for most of the time - nothing! We all have busy lives outside of music and we only do the band about as frequently as some people play golf! IQ is not a continuous process, it's a group of people that live miles away from each other and meet up just a few times every year. Because most of the band members have full-time jobs outside of music, we can only tour for a maximum of 10 days per year, and we have absolutely no desire at all to do any more than that. Assuming that we do a tour (as we have this year) we are therefore unable to do an album in the same year as some members simply can't get more time off work. I would think there would be a new IQ album some time in 2003 or 2004, but as we don't depend on it to make a living, we're in no hurry. As for touring in the US, this is incredibly unlikely, though we have managed to do occasional one-off gigs in the States over the years and hope to do more in the future. Touring is out of the question though. Bands Like IQ simply do not qualify for work permits (basically we don't sell enough records!), and the US immigration service is also notoriously hard on visiting bands even if they're playing for free. It is not unusual for musicians arriving at US airports carrying guitars to be shipped straight out on the next plane home! The best we can hope for is to play the occasional not-for-profit gig by sneaking in as tourists and borrowing all the instruments, but clearly this isn't ideal, and touring under those circumstances is not even nearly viable. Unfortunately the USA remains one of the most difficult countries in the world to gain access to if you're a musician.
You now have an open forum. Would you like to say anything else to any prog fans out there?
Better not - I've probably upset enough of them already!
Thank you so much for this interview.
